{"id":36388,"date":"2019-10-03T17:23:26","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T00:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=36388"},"modified":"2019-10-03T17:23:29","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T00:23:29","slug":"unearthing-the-hidden-gems-how-dealers-spread-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/feature-articles\/2019\/10\/unearthing-the-hidden-gems-how-dealers-spread-the-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Unearthing the Hidden Gems: How Dealers Spread the Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s a chill to the morning air, then it must be\nOctober. This month\u2019s state of the industry report takes an overview of the\nso-called hidden gems that dealers believe have a high upside for potential\ngrowth, but may be viewed by some as flying under the radar simply because they\nare a bit to the left of the mainstream office technology dealer\u2019s menu of\ntraditional services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke to a variety of dealers to learn more about their\nfavorite nontraditional offerings, and we\u2019ll kick off this week by asking them\nhow they spread the word about these little-known (or lesser-known) offerings,\nas well as the vertical markets they could potentially address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bob Ferland, Axion Business Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For Axion Business Technologies, all opportunities are\nvetted through an intensive quarterly review of the client base, according to\nBob Ferland, Axion president. The process was born as a scale for measuring\nclient satisfaction on a 1 to 10 scale that has evolved into a proactive,\none-stop shopping guide that evaluates clients on 10 different aspects.\nSections seven through nine speak to Axion\u2019s managed IT services, provides\nupdates on its MPS offerings and other products it can service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very aggressive with customer reviews to talk about\nthings including but also outside of copiers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also a chance to\ntalk about the less-heralded products available. We\u2019ve had a lot of success\nwith it. We\u2019re out there talking copiers and discussing the non-sexy stuff. But\nwe\u2019re also looking around the office from ceiling to floor, all four walls, and\neverything in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe train our CSRs on how to do the reviews. Everyone else\ntalks speeds and feeds, so we pull out the binder and talk about what we did\nfor a college down the street. We\u2019ll go through the whole binder and show them\nhow we were able to help in different ways. The clients are blown away by it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community Involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr. Dawn Abbuhl, Repeat Business Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Developing relationships inside and outside of the client\ncontext has been critical to the success of Repeat Business Sytems (RBS). Dr.\nDawn Abbuhl, president of RBS, notes that she is on the board of directors for\n12 local businesses\/associations\/chambers of commerce. Attending numerous\nbusiness-related functions provides her the opportunity to discuss both the\nmainstream and nontraditional offerings in RBS\u2019 portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt involves a lot of hard work and social media\ninvolvement,\u201d she said. \u201cWe use HubSpot and search engine optimization in\ndrawing people to our website. Being involved in the community helps, as well\nas going to events and talking to people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lee Flood, Pearson-Kelly Technology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to interactive products that onlookers can\nengage with in person, Pearson-Kelly Technology takes every opportunity to\nshowcase it at both sponsored and hosted events. Once the audience begins to\ntinker with the product, notes Director of Sales Lee Flood, the quicker and\neasier it becomes to engage them in a conversation. That gets the wheels\nturning in the buyers\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you have a tangible item, something the public can\ninteract with and get excited about, you want them to get their hands on it,\u201d\nFlood said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of success with these events. You never know when\nyou\u2019ll have that person who says, \u2018Oh my goodness, I know exactly where that\nfits.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting Customers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When dealers cannot put the financial marketing muscle\nbehind less-requested\/heralded products, that is the time for technology to do\nits part. Offix is using automation and artificial intelligence to do some of\nthe heavy lifting for the products that aren\u2019t as heavily marketed. Matteo\nRecanatini, marketing director of Offix, notes the dealer is currently\nrevamping its website to better present its products and have it structured in\na way that allows artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting. Dynamic web\npages can provide suggestions to visitors that are based on previous visits to\nthe site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Matteo Recanatini, Offix<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we know who the customer is through our CRM, the content\nof the page that is viewed will be populated with items that may be of interest\nto the particular visitor,\u201d Recanatini said. \u201cWe use a lot of inbound\nmarketing, so we can let the people come to us instead of cold calling, which\nwe\u2019re sunsetting in favor of other activities. \n\n\u201cInbound marketing allows us to segment people a\nlot better. We then analyze the buying behavior by vertical\u2014we\u2019ll put customers\ncoming to our website or attending our events in buckets. So we\u2019ll know what\nless-heralded products may be complementary to what they\u2019re looking for or to\nwhat they already have. It makes communication a lot more efficient that way.\u201d\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s a chill to the morning air, then it must be October. This month\u2019s state of the industry report takes an overview of the so-called hidden gems that dealers believe have a high upside for potential growth, but may be viewed by some as flying under the radar simply because they are a bit to the left of the mainstream office technology dealer\u2019s menu of traditional services. We spoke to a variety of dealers to learn more about their favorite nontraditional offerings, and we\u2019ll kick off this week by asking them how they spread the word about these little-known (or lesser-known) offerings, as well as the vertical markets they could potentially address. For Axion Business Technologies, all opportunities are vetted through an intensive quarterly review of the client base, according to Bob Ferland, Axion president. The process was born as a scale for measuring client satisfaction on a 1 to 10 scale that has evolved into a proactive, one-stop shopping guide that evaluates clients on 10 different aspects. Sections seven through nine speak to Axion\u2019s managed IT services, provides updates on its MPS offerings and other products it can service. \u201cWe\u2019re very aggressive with customer reviews to talk about things including but also outside of copiers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also a chance to talk about the less-heralded products available. We\u2019ve had a lot of success with it. We\u2019re out there talking copiers and discussing the non-sexy stuff. But we\u2019re also looking around the office from ceiling to floor, all four walls, and everything in between. \u201cWe train our CSRs on how to do the reviews. Everyone else talks speeds and feeds, so we pull out the binder and talk about what we did for a college down the street. We\u2019ll go through the whole binder and show them how we were able to help in different ways. The clients are blown away by it.\u201d Community Involvement Developing relationships inside and outside of the client context has been critical to the success of Repeat Business Sytems (RBS). Dr. Dawn Abbuhl, president of RBS, notes that she is on the board of directors for 12 local businesses\/associations\/chambers of commerce. Attending numerous business-related functions provides her the opportunity to discuss both the mainstream and nontraditional offerings in RBS\u2019 portfolio. \u201cIt involves a lot of hard work and social media involvement,\u201d she said. \u201cWe use HubSpot and search engine optimization in drawing people to our website. Being involved in the community helps, as well as going to events and talking to people.\u201d When it comes to interactive products that onlookers can engage with in person, Pearson-Kelly Technology takes every opportunity to showcase it at both sponsored and hosted events. Once the audience begins to tinker with the product, notes Director of Sales Lee Flood, the quicker and easier it becomes to engage them in a conversation. That gets the wheels turning in the buyers\u2019 minds. \u201cWhen you have a tangible item, something the public can interact with and get excited about, you want them to get their hands on it,\u201d Flood said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of success with these events. You never know when you\u2019ll have that person who says, \u2018Oh my goodness, I know exactly where that fits.\u2019\u201d Targeting Customers When dealers cannot put the financial marketing muscle behind less-requested\/heralded products, that is the time for technology to do its part. Offix is using automation and artificial intelligence to do some of the heavy lifting for the products that aren\u2019t as heavily marketed. Matteo Recanatini, marketing director of Offix, notes the dealer is currently revamping its website to better present its products and have it structured in a way that allows artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting. Dynamic web pages can provide suggestions to visitors that are based on previous visits to the site. \u201cIf we know who the customer is through our CRM, the content of the page that is viewed will be populated with items that may be of interest to the particular visitor,\u201d Recanatini said. \u201cWe use a lot of inbound marketing, so we can let the people come to us instead of cold calling, which we\u2019re sunsetting in favor of other activities. \u201cInbound marketing allows us to segment people a lot better. We then analyze the buying behavior by vertical\u2014we\u2019ll put customers coming to our website or attending our events in buckets. So we\u2019ll know what less-heralded products may be complementary to what they\u2019re looking for or to what they already have. It makes communication a lot more efficient that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":36390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1650,82,87,1638],"tags":[3348,277,3654,2258],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36388"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36391,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36388\/revisions\/36391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}